Data presented at the recent American Academy of Dermatology meeting suggests that interleukin (IL)-23 inhibition with risankizumab was more effective than the IL-17 inhibition (secukinumab) based on a 52 week randomized head-to-head trial in moderate to severe psoriasis patients.

A retrospective, observational study published in Lancet Rheumatology has shown that tocilizumab (TCZ) may reduce the risk of death or the need for mechanical ventilation in severe COVID-19 pneumonia. This observational study included adults, with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, who were hospitalized between Feb 21 and March 24, 2020. All were on the standard of care (ie, supplemental oxygen, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, antiretrovirals, and low molecular weight heparin), and a non-randomly selected subset of patients also received TCZ.

Dr Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com

Colchicine has been advocated as a potential anti-inflammatory intervention in patients with the coronavirus 2 infection and clinical trials have been developed to assess its effect in early COVID-2 infection.  JAMA has published a randomized clinical trial showing that low dose colchicine had less clinical deterioration without significant changes in biomarkers, such as high-sensitivity cardiac troponin and C-reactive protein.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 infection has both similarities and differences with Kawasaki disease, and requires distinct clinical management, according to draft guidance from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR).

For years, rheumatologists would rather fight to stay on a TNF inhibitor (TNFi) than switch to a non-TNFi biologic when rheumatoid arthritis (RA) therapy fails.

The largest study, to date, shows that in‐hospital mortality of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients has significantly improved between 2006 and 2016, with a high mortality burden among U.S. Blacks and Hispanics with lupus.